A Paiwan Aborigine artist from Pingtung County is telling the story of his people through paintings on coffee cups to encourage a better understanding of his tribe’s culture.
Fifty-year-old Ljegeay Mavalin said in an interview with the Central News Agency on Monday he hoped that when people drink from his cups, they will discuss the stories told on them with others.
“In this way the stories will be passed on,” he said, adding he had given a lot of thought about the best means to keep Paiwan culture alive in the modern world through his art.
Asked what inspired him to use coffee cups as his canvas, Ljegeay said coffee is a big market globally, which gives his work a large audience.
The stories feature the traditional trappings of Paiwan life such as tribal ceramic pots, glass beads and the Formosan sambar deer.
Images of the Formosa sambar have become more frequent in his recent work, as one of his objectives is to raise consciousness about environmental protection, he said.
In the past, the animal was easily spotted in mountains all over Taiwan. Today, however, the species is only seen — and rarely — at high altitude, after being displaced by human activity, Ljegeay said.
His work was selected by the Pingtung County Government as one of this year’s best souvenirs.
Marketing the product along with coffee grown by his tribe in the Pingtung mountains, Ljegeay said he not only wants to sell Paiwan culture, but also to promote tribal industry.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS